Ag/AgCl/activated carbon (AC) plasmonic photocatalysts were prepared by precipitation and photoreduc-tion method. The as-prepared plasmonic photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, BET, EDS, UV–visDRS, XPS and PL. The results show the composite photocatalysts are successfully obtained and obviouslyexhibit surface plasmon resonance and effectively enhance the separation of h+/e . The photocatalyticdegradation rate of tetracycline (TC) could reach 97.3% in 60 min under visible light irradiation and cycledexperiments show stably photocatalytic activities. The active species analysis displays holes andsuperoxide radicals are the main reactive species. Photocatalytic kinetic indicates that the degradationprocesses obey pseudo first order kinetic equation.